Matt Ferry

Internal VA Emails Reveal How Trump Cuts Jeopardize Veterans’ Care, Including To “Life-Saving Cancer Trials” Despite a congressional mandate to expand care for veterans, internal Veterans Affairs messages obtained by ProPublica paint a stark portrait of how chaotic cost cutting has already imperiled tests of...

NEW INVESTIGATION from me and @vernalcoleman.bsky.social:

Internal emails show doctors and others at VA hospitals around the country begging for help as cuts hurt veterans' care, including "live-saving cancer trials."

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Here is letter from Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Mass. asking for an inquiry by Office of Government Ethics into a billion-dollar business deal with a Trump-backed cryptocurrency company and foreign crypto firm

www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

Pulitzer Prizes Public Service Winner: ProPublica. Image (right) displays headline that reads: Their States Banned Abortion. Doctors Now Say They Can't Give Women Potentially Lifesaving Care.

JUST IN: ProPublica’s “Life of the Mother” series, which exposes the fatal consequences of abortion bans, has won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

This is the second consecutive year we’ve been awarded this distinction and our eighth Pulitzer: www.propublica.org/series/life-...

The Dems do not have subpoena power. They're in the minority. Holding a Democrat only session to discuss Trump. crypto conflicts is important. But you can't get very far with an investigation if you don't have subpoena power. That's the reality in DC

Senate Dems introduce "End Crypto Corruption Act" that would ban the President, Vice President, Senior Executive Branch Officials, Members of Congress, and their immediate families from financially benefiting from issuing, endorsing, or sponsoring crypto assets, such as meme coins and stablecoins

A ‘Business-Friendly’ Lawyer’s Rise From Lobbyist to Attorney General Pick Pam Bondi, whom President-elect Donald J. Trump intends to nominate as attorney general, received trips and donations funded by those seeking favors from her Florida office.

If you want to keep track of some of investigative reporting we at The NYT are doing--abt Trump, Musk, AG Bondi, EPA, Interior, etc, you can follow this account. Our coverage is not perfect. Nothing is. But we are digging every day to bring transparency/accountability www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/u...

America Needs More Judges Like Judge Myers He did the right thing in North Carolina’s Supreme Court fight, and he deserves praise.

My new one @theatlantic.com: When judges act as partisan hacks, it is important to condemn their conduct. But just as important is lauding the Republican judges who stand up against election subversion, including the Trump-appointed federal judge Myers

www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Kleptocracy

Trump is the Godfather in Reverse He’s making offers countries can’t accept

key point from @pkrugman.bsky.social: it's literally impossible for foreign governments to negotiate with Trump because he and his people can't/won't even articulate a consistent set of demands paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-is-t...

I would love it if the Times asked these folks about their media diet every time beforehand. bsky.app/profile/mich...

Senate Democrats seek answers from inspector general on Social Security cuts The letter sent to the inspector general’s office is part of a broader Democratic effort to defend the agency from what they describe as a reckless government downsizing campaign spearheaded by Elon M...

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are making backdoor cuts to Social Security.

It’s illegal, and Americans deserve answers.

You're definitely commanding a lot of respect from a country when the foreign minister openly says your head of state is a moron.

Ossoff: I think the only people who are happy about this are congressional Republicans and the Mar-a-Lago club members, who I can imagine are doing pretty well on stock tips and getting advanced notice.

Walz: If you say you love freedom but you don't believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love is not freedom, it is privilege.

It is not actually in the President's power to unilaterally rescind or modify regulations that were enacted through notice-and-comment.

Maybe FedSoc judges invent a reason for it, but it's not what precedent or the Administrative Procedures Act says. See, e.g., www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspecti...

Phillip: But as the economy is suffering, new polls are showing that his support is in fact eroding, particularly among young men. And it's lies like these that people aren't buying anymore.

Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.  A

1. This executive order - if implemented (which is a big IF) - would fundamentally weaken the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Abrego Garcia’s Wife Moved To Safe House After DHS Exposed Her Address On X Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, said she fears for her family's safety after verbal attacks from Donald Trump and government officials.

Abrego Garcia’s Wife Forced To Move To Safe House After Trump's DHS Exposed Her Address On X

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, said she fears for her family's safety after verbal attacks from Donald Trump and government officials.

www.huffpost.com/entry/kilmar...

Florida halts migrant arrests after judge rebukes state over immigration law enforcement A federal judge has instructed the Florida Attorney General's Office to cease the arrests of undocumented immigrants under a new state law following multiple arrests.

The federal judge’s order was clear: it prohibits the state and its “officers, agents, employees, attorneys in, and any persons who are in active concert or participation with them” from enforcing this law.

Trump upends DOJ's Civil Rights Division, sparking 'bloodbath' in senior ranks Trump's hand-picked head of the division has outlined priorities that are dramatically at odds with the way past administrations have enforced civil rights law.

The Trump administration has quietly transformed the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, forcing out a majority of career managers and implementing new priorities that current and former officials say abandon its decadeslong mission.

Robert McChesney, the Great Champion of Journalism and Democracy, Has Died The academic and activist inspired generations of people to challenge corporate power and support a media reform movement that lives on.

The great champion of independent, speak-truth-to-power journalism, and of the democracy that can only survive if the press is free, Robert W. McChesney, has died at age 72. He fought the media oligarchs and the politicians who served them — and often won.

Now, we must carry the fight forward.

There is no way this massive cut in HHS employees is predicated on a careful and deliberate evaluation of the department’s resources, needs, and missions—and what’s best for the public.

Disappearing people to avoid the jurisdiction of the court in which they were taken by the state is authoritarian to the core and runs afoul of the spirit of Article III, the Due Process Clause, and the principles that emerged from the Glorious Revolution and the American Revolution. Arbitrary rule.

Tufts community calls the Tufts administration to action We, members of the Tufts community, are appalled and enraged by the unlawful abduction on Tufts PhD Fulbright student Rümeysa Öztürk by federal authorities. We call on the Tufts administration to comm...

Tufts alumni have organized a list of demands to the Tufts administration regarding protections for international students and workers. Please consider signing on if you're Tufts-affiliated in any way.

According to the attorney of one of the men shipped to El Salvador w/o due process, he was singled out by the Trump administration because they suspected his tattoos!

The "autopen scandal" is the dumbest thing I've seen in at least two days. Trump has entered his "gold fringe on the flag means you're docked in admiralty court" phase.

Key word is “actual.” They want to eliminate due process for deportation and this is their test case. Kind of like how they wanna arrest protestors without due process, and fire government employees without due process, and indict people without due process, and seize assets without due process.

What musicians did after an executive order on DEI led to the cancellation of U.S. Marine Band collaboration After an executive order ending DEI initiatives, the U.S. Marine Band canceled a concert featuring young musicians of color. Veterans stepped in to mentor the aspiring musicians.

Well done, 60 Minutes.

F MAGA to the ends of the Earth.

www.cbsnews.com/news/concert...

YouTube video by Russian Media Monitor Vladimir Solovyov and Margarita Simonyan share their joy about events in America

Meanwhile in Russia: Vladimir Solovyov shared Margarita Simonyan's joy over Trump's decision to defund RFE/RL and Voice of America. Solovyov threatened France and Britain and wished death upon independent journalists.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vds...